Ordering Information

Ordering and Shipping

January 26, 2024 Last date to qualify for a March shipment. See "March Shipments" on page 32 for details.
February 26, 2024 Shipping begins for our southern-most customers who chose March Shipment. See March Shipments by state chart, page 32.
March 8, 2024 Last date to order for scheduled spring pick-up at our facility. See "Pick-Up Option," page 32.
April 1, 2024 Shipping begins for seed potatoes and spring allium orders not scheduled for March shipment.
May 3, 2024 Last date to secure volume discounts.
May 17, 2024 Last date to order seed potatoes and spring alliums.
May 28 and 29, 2024 Scheduled dates for shipping of sweet potato slips to you from our grower.
Early September, 2024 Shipping of fall crocuses (Colchicum).
October, 2024 Shipping and pickup of fall alliums and flower bulbs.

Three Ways to Order

Online - here with our secure shopping cart.
Mail - download order form and mail to:
The Maine Potato Lady
PO Box 65
Guilford, ME 04443
Phone - 207-717-5451 9:00am to 4:00pm EST M-F
We may not always be able to answer the phone in person. Please leave a message.

Shipping Charts

Shipping Zone 0-2# 2.5-10# 11-20# 21-30# 31-40# 41-49# 50-275# 276#+
Zone 1 (ME, NH, VT, MA, CT, RI, NY, PA, NJ) 12.20 18.50 21.50 25.75 31.20 36.75 .80/lb. Contact us for the best shipping options.
Zone 2 (All other states east of the Mississippi, except MN) 12.75 20.84 25.50 32.75 41.50 49.20 1.05/lb. Contact us for the best shipping options.
Zone 3 (All states west of the Mississippi except HI & AK) 13.75 23.25 31.50 43.50 59.75 65.00 1.27/lb. Contact us for the best shipping options.
HI & AK - Priority Mail Only 18.00 24.00 40.00 Contact us for a quote.
Shipping costs subject to change without notice. See website for any changes.

Truck Shipment per Pallet Rates by States - 276# - 2000# per Pallet

ME Northern ME MA, RI, VT CT All Other States
190.00 198.00 198.00 204.00 Contact us for a quote.

Placing Orders. For best selection and availability, order early. Check our website for availability, especially for products that have limited quantities. When you place your order, indicate if you will accept substitutions; please review our substitution guidelines. Your order will be shipped according to our standard schedule unless you request March delivery or pick-up at our warehouse; see details below. If we need to get in touch with you about your order, we will do so via email. Put mainepotatoladynoreply@gmail.com and customer-service@mainepotatolady.com in your email address book to ensure that you receive communications from us. Please respond promptly to any email you receive from us.

Payment. All orders must be prepaid. Payment may be made by check, money order, or Visa/ MasterCard. There is a $25.00 charge for returned checks and a 10% processing fee for cancelled orders. Prices are subject to change without notice.

March Shipments. We will begin shipping to our southern-most customers first, beginning February 26, 2024, weather permitting, according to the schedule below. We cannot ship to the west coast, the northern tier states, or New England before the end of March due to freezing temperatures. To request March shipment, order by January 26 and specify March shipment on your order form. Please see chart below for approximate ship weeks per state. If your state is not listed in the chart, then your order will be placed in the main order queue that BEGINS shipping on April 1, 2024. Orders for all other states will ship in the main queue.

Week of February 27 AL, AR, AZ, FL, GA, HI, KS, KY, LA, MO, MS, NC, NM, NV, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA
Week of March 6 DC, DE, MD, WV
Week of March 13 IA, IL, IN, NJ, OH, PA, UT

Pick-Up Option. To pick up orders (by appointment only) at our facility in Newport, Maine, choose the pick-up option on the order form. To pick up during our scheduled spring dates of April 22–26 and April 29–May 3, 2024, place your order by March 8, 2024. For spring pick-up orders placed after March 8, we will notify you when your order is ready to arrange a pick-up time, generally in mid-May. Fall pick-up dates will be in October, 2024. We will email a reminder with date and time options; please respond within 7 days to make your appointment. Pick-up orders not picked up within the agreed-upon time frame will be forfeited unless other arrangements are made. 5.5% Maine sales tax is applied to all pick-up orders.

Add-ons and changes. We will do our best to accommodate changes to your orders. Add-ons and changes may be made by phone only, and payment must be made at that time. If you request changes to your order two weeks or more after having placed it, we will add a $5 change fee to your order.

Order Fulfillment. We process orders in the sequence in which they are received, beginning with orders received in December, and we ship according to the shipping schedule above. We are unable to offer "rush” shipments, and we cannot hold orders or guarantee ship dates. If you wish to receive non-perishable items separately, please place a separate order. Non-perishable items ordered separately from perishable items (whether for spring or fall shipment) generally ship within one week of receipt of your order. Nonperishable items ordered with spring- or fall-shipped perishable items will ship with those items.

Shipping. We will choose USPS Priority Mail, UPS, or FEDEX depending on the weight of the order. Provide a street address for mail and/ or UPS/FedEx shipments. We reserve the right to delay shipping when the weather is too cold to ship your products safely. We cannot ship any alliums to ID, we cannot ship sweet potatoes to LA, we cannot ship seed potatoes to Alaska due to phytosanitary restrictions.

Truck Shipments. For orders over 275 pounds, truck shipments are available to addresses that can receive a tractor-trailer delivery. The customer must provide a daytime phone number, be present during delivery, and be able to unload, either by hand or with equipment. Contact us for details.

Availability of Live Plant Material. (potato seed, alliums, slips, bulbs, and roots) is subject to crop, storage, and weather conditions beyond our control. The availability of any particular item cannot be guaranteed until we are ready to ship your order. When a variety is not available, we may substitute similar products, as detailed below. Please check our website for updates on products which may become available later in the season.

Substitutions. If an item you order is not available, we will notify you via email in as timely a manner as possible to inform you of substitution options. Please respond to our email within 14 days so that we can complete your order; if we do not hear from you, we will make substitutions as follows: For organic varieties, we will substitute the same variety, sustainably or conventionally grown, or another organic variety similar in season and color. For conventional or sustainable varieties, we will substitute a variety similar in season and color. If you do not wish to receive substitutions, indicate this on the order form at the time you place your order.

Receiving Your Order of Live Plant Material. Open the packages immediately upon receipt, inspect the contents, and store the products properly until ready to plant. If you are not going to be available to receive your order at your primary address, please provide an alternate address where you can receive the order. Handling and growing instructions are included with each order and are also available on our website. Failure to inspect your order upon receipt, or failure to follow the handling and storage guidelines in the instructions may void our guarantee. See “Our Guarantee” on page 4.

Sweet Potato Orders. Sweet potato slips will be shipped directly from the grower via UPS or FedEx (no P.O. Boxes, no pick-ups at our warehouse). Scheduled ship dates are May 28 and 29, 2024; these dates may be adjusted as required by growing conditions or other factors. Shipping is included in the price. Inspect immediately upon receipt; requests for refund or replacement must be made within three days of receipt and must be accompanied by photos of the slips and labels as they were received. Refer to the handling and growing instructions enclosed with each order, or available on our website. When you order sweet potato slips, you accept these conditions.

Pinto Gold Orders. Though Pinto Gold is a fantastic potato variety, it is susceptible to soft rot due to harvest and handling injuries, which become apparent once they are out of storage and begin to warm up. Inspect immediately upon receipt; requests for refund or replacement must be made within three days of receipt and must be accompanied by photos of the product and labels as they were received. Refer to instructions enclosed with each order, or available on our website. When you order Pinto Gold, you accept these conditions.

Refunds and Replacements. If a product is unsound or defective when you receive it, please notify us within three days and provide photos of any defective products (with labels) in order to qualify for a refund or replacement. Items to be returned with prior approval are eligible for a refund or credit (excluding shipping costs). Replacement products may not be available.

Volume Discounts. We are pleased to offer discounts on volume orders. If your order totals:
$100-$299, discount 5%
$300-$599, discount 10%
$600-$999, discount 15%
$1000 or more, discount 20%
Discount Deadline May 3, 2024

Alison's Spud Specs is a useful chart of the potato varieties offered here for your comparison. Click here to download a copy.

Alison's Alliums is a useful chart of the onion and garlic varieties offered here for your comparison. Click here to download a copy.

Late Blight. Click here for the Late Blight Fact Sheet.

How Much Seed Potato Do I Need?
One pound plants 5-8 row feet.
2.5 pounds plants 12-20 row feet.
5 pounds plants 25 row feet.
20 pounds plants 100 row feet.
For fingerling potatoes, use about half these amounts for the same row footage.

How Much Allium Seed or Transplants Do I Need?
One pound of onion sets (200 sets per pound) plants 100 row feet.
One Bunch Onion & Leek Transplants (60-75 plants) will plant 30-37 row feet.
One pound of shallots or potato onions (15-20 sets per pound) plants 7-9 row feet.
One pound of garlic (30-90 cloves per pound) will plant 15-50 ft of row depending on the variety.

How Many Sweet Potato Slips Do I Need?
20 Slips will plant 20–22 ft of row
50 Slips will plant 50–60 ft of row
100 Slips will plant 100–125 ft of row
Expected yield is 1# per plant.

About Our Certified Seed

Most of the seed we offer is produced at family farms with whom we have good working relationships, some for almost twenty-five years. All our potato seed meets the State of Maine's seed certification requirements that establish acceptable tolerances for seed quality. (For more information about certified seed, download from our website "Coming to Terms.") Many of our varieties are also certified organic. All our seed garlic lots have tested negative for the garlic bloat nematode, white rot, and botrytis. Excellent farming practices, attention to detail, and scrupulous adherence to seed certification guidelines (when applicable) set good seed growers apart from the rest. All the farms from which we obtain seed meet our stringent requirements. It is an honor to work with these farmers, and it is a privilege to supply you with their seed.

Our Promise to You

The Maine Potato Lady Guarantees Your Satisfaction. At The Maine Potato Lady, we take pride in the quality of our products and our service. Our goal is to provide you with quality products for a healthy garden. If you like our products and our service, please tell your friends! If you are not pleased with our products or our service, please call or e-mail right away to let us know.

Our Guarantee. We promise that our products are of the highest quality and are sound when they leave our warehouse or are shipped from our suppliers. Our certified seed potatoes meet the inspection standards established by the State of Maine. Live plant materials, including potato seed, alliums, slips, bulbs, and roots, are perishable products which can be damaged by improper handling and storage. With every order, we provide instructions for immediate inspection and for proper handling, storage, and planting. Failure to inspect your order upon receipt, or failure to follow these instructions or to follow accepted good farming practices, may void our guarantee. Good crops also depend on good weather, good soil, and good growing practices. Because we cannot control these conditions, our liability is limited to the refund of the purchase price or replacement of the product. If you are not satisfied with a product, or if a product is unsound or defective when you receive it, please notify us within three days and provide photos of any defective products (with labels) in order to qualify for a refund or replacement. Items to be returned with prior approval are eligible for a refund or credit (excluding shipping costs). Replacement products may not be available. When you purchase our products, you accept these conditions and limitations.

Knowledgeable Customer Service. We have many years’ experience growing potatoes, onions, shallots, garlic, and cover crops. We are happy to answer your questions or help you in any way we can so you can get the most from your garden!

Our Privacy Policy. We respect your privacy. We will never share your personal information or use it for any purpose other than to receive and fill your orders, to provide information on how to use our products, and to send you our catalogs and e-newsletter. Our website, www.mainepotatolady.com, is set up for secure, private transactions.